1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing technology. In particular, the present invention relates to a printing apparatus that prints created printing data on a printing medium such as a tape, a printing method, and a program for the printing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printing apparatus disclosed in JP 3378622 B, for example, is known as this type of printing apparatus.
This printing apparatus is configured by a data creating device for creating printing data, and a separate tape printer that is connected to the data creating device through a connecting line. Further, when printing the printing data created by the data creating device, the printing data is transferred to the tape printer, and printing is performed to a tape within a tape cassette (hereinafter referred to as tape cartridge) mounted in the tape printer.
Furthermore, in recent years, various kinds of tapes have been provided in order to satisfy the various needs of users. More specifically, a variety of tapes are prepared such as tapes having different widths, and transfer tapes for mirror image character printing, and a user selects, as needed, a tape cartridge that houses a tape that conforms to the user's printing objective, mounts the tape cartridge in the tape printer, and performs printing.
The tapes, which are printing media, are housed within the tape cartridges, as described above, and it is difficult to identify the tapes from one another from the appearance of the tape cartridges. Further, there are cases, during printing, where the width or the type of the tape used previously differs from that of the tape desired to be used next. In addition, there are cases where the width or the type of a tape suited to data created previously differs from that of a tape currently mounted in the printing apparatus when the previously created data is read out and used. Thus, in some cases, printing is performed on a tape that is not intended to be used by the user, and, therefore, improvements are sought in respect of handling of the tapes and the printing apparatus.
Conventional printing apparatuses transfer the information relating to the tape cartridge mounted in a tape printer to the data creating device, and further, check the transferred cartridge information with cartridge information set in the printing data at the time of printing by using the data creating device. An error message is displayed if the transferred cartridge information and the set cartridge information are not identical, thereby to prevent printing with a wrong data cartridge mounted. Furthermore, when they are identical, the printing processing is performed automatically, without the display of the error message.
However, the earnest research made by the inventors of the present invention has led to the discovery of various points need to be improved in conventional printing apparatuses.
First, one point deserving attention is the fact that default settings (for example, the tape width) are read-in automatically at the time of creation of the printing data, and the default settings will be reflected in the printing data unless the user intentionally changes the default settings. Accordingly, work for verifying the default settings is required each time when a printing data is created in order to perform printing appropriately.
Further, verification of the default settings is a difficult operation for users who are not accustomed to the operation, and a majority of the users implement printing without verifying the default settings. When the default settings and the information on the mounted tape cartridge happen to coincide with each other contrary to the intentions of the user, printing is executed in a printing form that is contrary to the intentions of the user.
That is, in conventional printing apparatuses, when the cartridge information sent from the tape printer is identical to the settings used at the time of creation of the printing data, it is regarded that, in terms of controlling, the proper operations having been made, regardless of the intentions of the user, and printing is thus carried out in a printing form that is contrary to the intentions of the user, as described above.